Slowey hopeful of re-signing with Marlins

Sidelined since late July, right-hander Kevin Slowey said he's willing to play winter ball to show the Marlins he's healthy.

September 25, 2013|By Juan C. Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

MIAMI — The Marlins' starting pitching landscape looks much different than it did in spring training. That hasn't dissuaded Kevin Slowey from expressing his desire to come back.

Eligible for arbitration after this season, Slowey has not pitched in a game since July 25 due to right forearm tightness. He should throw off a mound later this week. If that doesn't convince the Marlins he's healthy, Slowey said he's willing to spend time in winter ball.

"If that's something they would like me to do I'm for it," said Slowey, who played in the Dominican Republic last winter. "I didn't mind it. I was there five starts, enough to get into six innings my last couple of starts and feel like I was more in game shape."

Of Slowey's 20 appearances, 14 were starts due in part to early injuries to Nathan Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez. Add in Jose Fernandez, Jacob Turner, Tom Koehler, Brad Hand and the next wave of arms that include Brian Flynn, Andrew Heaney, Justin Nicolino and Anthony DeSclafani, and Slowey might have a better outlook elsewhere.

Even if he's not in the rotation, Slowey can fill a long reliever/spot starter role. If the Marlins don't want to give Slowey a guaranteed deal, they can non-tender him and try to bring him back on a minor-league contract.

"This has been a great spot with the coaching staff, my teammates, all the opportunity that was here," Slowey said. "It's going to be a team that will be much improved record-wise. The talent is here ... I'd love to come back. If we can find a way to make it work that's what I'll do."

Keeping busy

Told before Wednesday's game that Fernandez was going to take part in the Fox Sports Florida broadcast for an inning, manager Mike Redmond was delighted.

"That's great," said Redmond, who's had Fernandez in the dugout since Sept. 12. "It'll give him something to do."

It's not beyond the idle Fernandez to engage his manager in conversation in the middle of games. Tuesday, he chatted up Redmond with runners on first and second.

"He came down and he was talking to me and I told him, 'Hey man, I've got to kind of pay attention here to what's going on in case something comes up,' " Redmond said.

"We were just talking about pitching or whatever. I don't even remember exactly. He just wanted to talk. He's great. His spirits are great."

Redmond added that he recently thought about Fernandez's inauspicious start in spring training. The first week during a simulated game, Fernandez hit Giancarlo Stanton in the back of the head.

"You're thinking to yourself, 'Wow, is spring training going to be too much? Is he going to be too nervous? Is he going to be able to get through? Should we pitch him in a game? How do we handle this? How's he going to handle it?' " Redmond said.

"From that to hopefully being the rookie of the year is just truly amazing. That's a testament to how special a kid he really is."

Thumbs down

Catcher Jeff Mathis was unavailable Wednesday because of a sore right thumb. Mathis initially injured it on Sept. 9 and missed the next eight games as a result. The thumb has swelled up again, but Redmond doesn't think Mathis' season is over.

"We've played a lot of games here and he's been grinding it out pretty good," Redmond said. "Hopefully with the day off he'll be back. We'll see."